Print this PostLet me start off this post by saying ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ to all of my fellow Americans. You should feel very proud and lucky that you’re hearing those words come out of my mouth (well, in a figurative sense — you’re actually reading those words) because, as much as I hate to admit it, I almost “forgot” that today was Thanksgiving Day.
You see, today started like any other day. I woke up, got a shower, got dressed, and went to the school to teach class. I went through most of the morning normally — the same way I would any other morning — completely oblivious to the fact that today was Thanksgiving. Later in the day, when I had a free moment, I decided to check my email and, lo and behold, I had a message from my mom in the States wishing me a “HAPPPYYYYYYY THANKSGIVINGGGG” (I write the phrase in capitals because that’s how she put it in the email).
It wasn’t until I received that email from my mother that I realized that today was Thanksgiving. It’s funny, really. Since I’m living in Spain and Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here, the whole fact that today was the day just “slipped my mind,” so to speak. Still, my Thanksgiving story does not end there….
After I realized that today was Thanksgiving, I mentioned something about the holiday to my housemates. Of course, they explained to me that they already knew all about the holiday from watching American movies on TV. They then proceeded to elaborate further on how the “Americans” wake up very early on Thanksgiving morning to go outside and kill the turkey that they’re going to eat for dinner. This made me laugh a bit because, despite being an American who has celebrated Thanksgiving pretty much every year of his life, I have never “went outside to kill a turkey.” I then explained to my housemates that I preferred to buy my turkeys “already dead” from the supermarket and, although it may have been disappointing for them at first, they seemed to accept the new information rather well.
So, to end this post I’d like to remind everyone in the USA to be careful with those axes when they’re killing their turkeys. After all, we don’t want any accidents, do we? Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com
Hi Chris-
I am studying in Valencia, in my first year of a two year Master program, and I almost forgot about Thanksgiving too…I guess without any turkey decorations around it is easy to forget about. But the crazy thing is that it was Spanish people who reminded me about Thankgiving was last week! I forgot about it until some of them asked me what my family does for the holiday.
-Michelle
@Michelle – Yes, I noticed this too. The Spaniards actually were the ones to remember Thanksgiving before I was! It was nuts.